MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Artillery troops of Russia’s Eastern Military District and the Belarusian armed forces held a live-fire exercise at the Osipovichsky training ground in Belarus during the Union Resolve 2022 joint military drills, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Saturday.

"As part of the Union Resolve 2022 exercise, the artillery troops of the Eastern Military District and the armed forces of the Republic of Belarus acting within combined battalions at the Osipovichsky training ground delivered strikes against the area occupied by notional illegal armed gangs," the ministry said in a statement.

During a tactical episode, the teams of multiple launch rocket systems conducted a march to designated areas, assumed unprepared emplacements within the shortest time and delivered a salvo against the area of the amassed illegal armed gang, the ministry specified.

"The target reconnaissance, visual observation and fire direction of multiple launch rocket systems were conducted with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles," the statement says.

The Union Resolve 2022 Russia-Belarus joint drills are running on Belarusian territory on February 10-20. The participating troops are practicing fighting and repelling external aggression, countering terrorism and protecting the interests of the Union State.

As the Russian Defense Ministry reported, during the joint drills, the troops will practice reinforcing the state border in potential areas of the illegal penetration of armed gangs into the territory of Belarus and shutting down channels of the supply of arms, munitions and other means that can be used for destabilizing the situation in the country, eliminating outlawed armed gangs and enemy subversive and reconnaissance groups.

The troops are practicing their joint operations at the Domanovsky, Gozhsky, Obuz-Lesnovsky, Brestsky and Osipovichsky training grounds in Belarus. The Baranovichi, Luninets, Lida and Machulishchi airfields are also involved in the drills.